NPR News Now - NPR News: 01-29-2025 4AM EST

Episode Date: January 29, 2025

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Okay, so does this sound like you? You love NPR's podcasts, you wish you could get more of all your favorite shows, and you want to support NPR's mission to create a more informed public. If all that sounds appealing, then it is time to sign up for the NPR Plus bundle. Learn more at plus.npr.org. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Shea Stevens. Several federal officials have been fired over the past week, including prosecutors who aided the special prosecutor's investigation of Donald Trump. Two commissioners at the EEOC, which investigate civil rights violations in the workplace, have lost their jobs, as well as two members of the National Labor Relations Board and inspector generals from more than

dozen federal agencies. Here's White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller. The president's authority to fire any federal worker is plenary. There's no lawful constraints that can be placed on the president to terminate a worker in the federal government who exercises discretionary policy. That's the basis of Article 2 and the Constitution and the idea of a single executive. When you have anyone in the federal government who exercises decision-making authority who can't be fired, then that person is a king.

Some critics have argued that allowing a president to make decisions without consulting Congress is the definition of the king. A federal judge has blocked President Trump's order to freeze federal funding and grant programs. The move came in response to a lawsuit by 23 attorneys general arguing that the order will likely hurt millions of Americans. New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Plakkin says the order may not be legal. If what he's doing is lawful, even if I don't like it, then that's his prerogative.

He's a duly elected president. But when he violates the law, when he upends the Constitution, and when he hurts millions of people in my state and in states like New Jersey across the country, I took an oath to uphold the Constitution and to protect our residents. And I have an obligation to stand up for them when this happens. Black and Olsen says that the president may not override funding that Congress has already earmarked. The White House is putting to rest concern about those snowballing reports of drones

in the night sky along the East Coast more than a month ago. The Trump administration is offering a simple explanation, as NPR's Giles Snyder reports. During her first briefing as White House press secretary, Caroline Levitt read a statement from President Trump saying the drones that sparked widespread worry and confusion in at least five states were not the enemy. The drones that were flying over New Jersey in large numbers were authorized to be flown by the FAA for research and various other reasons. Levitt added that some of the drones belonged to hobbyists and private individuals and that

curiosity made the situation worse. The explanation is similar to what the Biden administration said after drone sightings were first reported in November and spread from New Jersey to Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Virginia, that there was no evidence of anything nefarious. Trial Snider, NPR News. Former Ambassador Caroline Kennedy is warning the U.S. Senate against confirming her cousin as secretary of Health and Human Services. She calls Robert Kennedy, Jr., a predator and past drug abuser who she says has exploited

family tragedies in order to promote himself. This is NPR News. A scientific study finds that human-caused climate change increased the likelihood and intensity of the hot and dry windy conditions that fan the wildfires in Southern California. Tuesday's report calculates that global warming boosts the frequency of high-fire weather conditions by 35 percent and their intensity by 6 percent. A company that hopes to produce a new supersonic commercial airliner to succeed the Concorde has broken the sound barrier in a test flight over the Mojave Desert. NPR Scott Newman has details.

XB1 is supersonic faster than the speed of sound. A company known as Boom Technologies nudged its XB1 demonstrator to Mach 1.1 faster than the speed of sound. A company known as Boom Technologies nudged its XB-1 demonstrator to Mach 1.1, just over the speed of sound. That's about 850 miles per hour. The Denver-based company says the XB-1 is the world's first independently developed supersonic jet. Boom is already developing an 80-passenger supersonic airliner known as Overture. This test flight is meant to provide crucial data to that project. Both the United and American Airlines have shown interest in purchasing Overture, which the company aims to have flying commercially by 2030.

The plane could cut transcontinental and transoceanic airline travel times in half. Scott Newman, NPR News. The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists has moved its doomsday clock to 89 seconds to midnight, one second closer than the last prediction. Since 1947, the nonprofit has given its estimate on how close man is to wiping out its species. This is NPR News. species. This is NPR News.